The Walker Bay Chronicles

[MarshRat]

Inspired by leaky waders and cramped float tubes, I scooped up a new toy on my commute home today.



The Walker Bay 8, which weighs in at 71 lbs and slides right into the bed without any overhang. The ol’ girl has some fishing (crabbing?) battle scars, but I couldn’t argue with the FB marketplace price. Marketed as a sailing dinghy/yacht tender, the goal is to set her up pram-style with a folding seat, solid wood oars, Scotty fly rod holder and Scotty anchor puller.



I intend to update the thread with build progress and fishing adventures. Hopefully she holds a future even Flip would be proud of.

 

[Draketake]

Love it,. Good score. Great idea for use.

 

[goinoregon]

is it plastic ?

 

[MarshRat]

is it plastic ?

Yup! Polypropylene I believe

 

[MarshRat]

The excitement begins! In my haste, I missed a crack during pre-purchase inspection.



No hard feelings, it was mostly covered by the bolt-on middle bench. A quick wrenching reveals the full extent of the issue.



The damage is above the waterline, but definitely at a stress point, so I wanted to make an effort to mitigate further spreading. Google says most epoxies and adhesives don’t bond well to polypropylene, so I opted to slowly find the melting point and weld/fuse the gap with leverage. A drill bit provides the leverage and maintains the bolt hole.



Water test next week, gotta find some oars!

 

[SurfnFish]

The excitement begins! In my haste, I missed a crack during pre-purchase inspection.

View attachment 189746

No hard feelings, it was mostly covered by the bolt-on middle bench. A quick wrenching reveals the full extent of the issue.

View attachment 189747

The damage is above the waterline, but definitely at a stress point, so I wanted to make an effort to mitigate further spreading. Google says most epoxies and adhesives don’t bond well to polypropylene, so I opted to slowly find the melting point and weld/fuse the gap with leverage. A drill bit provides the leverage and maintains the bolt hole.

View attachment 189748

Water test next week, gotta find some oars!

J-B Weld Plastiweld Epoxy should seal it. For a more robust fix - on the outer hull sand a larger area than the crack, get the thinnest poly cutting board they have at Walmart or similar, cut your pattern, use a heat gun if necessary to form any required curves, epoxy the patch on.